Birthday

Maybe not the most flattering picture, but do you remember this awesome hat? 

I had a big birthday this year! So big, that I think I'm still celebrating... ? Actually, I think it's over at this point. 

I thought about throwing a party, but it's so hard to pull it all together in January (this post is coming a bit late haha), and I considered doing something later in the year, cause whatev, but then my friends and family decided to take it upon themselves to do all of these little celebrations before I could figure it out. It was Stoa, and Bali, and Broadway SF/Some Like It Hot, and Dim Sum, and Ssal, and Foster the People, and Mr. Tipples, and Gregangelo Museum, and Wonderspaces, and Pa'La. 

It was sweet time with people that I love. 💖

Bali

Joan asked, "What are you going to do for your birthday this year? Come to Bali!" 

Come to Bali. !! What an amazing invitation. So, I booked flights and I went to Bali! 

Bali is kind of like Asian Mexico Hawaii Costa Rica (haha, seriously though!), and it's amazing! It's a gorgeous jungle island with monkeys and frogs and geckos and dogs just wandering around, and some stray cats too. There are old statues and palaces, and these incredibly beautiful doorways. They put offerings of rice, flowers, and incense in little square baskets all over the place to symbolize gratitude and devotion to the gods. The weather is hot, but not miserable (unless you hate humidity.😅). The people are sweet and everything is ridiculously cheap (except maybe some taxis and super fancy hotels.). 

Joan and I stayed separately, which gave us some independence and allowed us to focus on our priorities for the trip early in the day (for her, continuing to get creative work done because I was joining the end of her 3 week trip -- for me, sleeping in and exploring!). Then we would meet up for activities and connection later in the day.

Paul was there too! Paul was in Joan's theatre troop for a long time in the Bay, and then he moved to China to teach. He had been living in Bali for about 6 months before this trip, so it was really fun to see him, and to get to see Bali through local eyes. 

Here's the list of awesome: 

• Staying at Samhita Gardens Resort & Villas in Ubud was perfect. Great location, incredible staff, very comfortable accommodations, huge yummy breakfast every day 
• The palaces, all of the statues, and the beautiful doorways
• The Monkey Forest, and the art gallery in the middle of it!
• The ridge hike
• The best shopping night ever :) 
• Great food everywhere for super cheap
• Mask day! Meeting the mask carvers and the ride through the island
• The mask show at the palace
• Magical rice field walk! 
• Wandering Ubud streets and shops
• Best most gorgeous smoothy bowl in the world 
• Paul's birthday party and his amazing ex-pat friends
• Luwak Coffee
• Staying at Kubudiuma Villas was very cheap and also a great location for the area we were in. Accommodations were okay
• The coast line in Perenan with the beautiful statues
• Arte restaurant and it's incredible pasta 
• The floating temple 
• Meeting up with Andre at Woods, another cute restaurant 
• Walking the beaches and through Canggu
• Dinner at Bokashi Boutique - excellent fine dining for so cheap!! 
• My sweet driver back to the airport

There was a lot of magic on this adventure, but there are also some things to keep in mind. 

Quick tips / facts / observations: 

• Bug spray is essential, and not the natural kind the one with DEET. 
• Don't drink the water. Same as Mexico, use bottled water for teeth brushing and be wary of ice in drinks and food items potentially washed in the water. 
• Getting into the water on certain beaches might also give you "Bali Belly". I'm assuming this isn't all of the beaches, but it's worth considering before you go swimming/snorkeling/surfing. 
• It is very hot there. Bring very light weight loose clothes that dry quickly. I brought some skorts and found myself fighting to get them off and on due to how sweaty I would get... and I'm not an overly sweaty person. 
• It's underdeveloped. Good sturdy walking shoes made a huge difference on uneven sidewalks and pathways, and are significantly better than sandals even though it's hot. The best outfit I wore was jean shorts, a tank top, and walking shoes. Lighter weight shorts would've probably been better if I had them. 
• If you can ride a scooter, that's the best way to get around if you're going any distance that you can't easily walk to. Cars can get you places, but they take a long time and taxis can be kind of pricy, which is weird because everything else is so cheap! Private drivers are the way to go for to and from the airport. I think you can Google: Bali private driver, and find one. I was really lucky to be with two experienced motorcycle riders (Joan, Paul) who let me jump on the back of their scooters.  
• Traffic is fascinating. There are very few street signs/lights and no real rules, but people pay attention to each other and move through it very close to each other with a lot of grace. It's kind of like schools of fish.
• We didn't love Canggu because of how touristy it was, even though it had gorgeous places to eat with incredible cheap food haha. We loved Ubud, which is also touristy, but different somehow. I think Ubud maintains Balinese culture, where Canggu sacrifices culture for tourism.

Till next time Bali! 

Shows

I haven't written about the shows since 2021... ! There are too many so I've only included ones I loved and remember... 

Candlelight Open Air: Vivaldi's Four Seasons and More - quite beautiful once we were able to find it

Lu Rodriguez @ the Treehouse - magical night, strange and fun performance 

Rodrigo & Gabriela @ Mountain View Winery - lovely and impressive as always 

Glen Hansard @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery - emotional and perfect 

Nation of Language @ Independent - unexpected and fun! First show back in a venue

Dear San Francisco - first of many times I would see this show because it's EXCELLENT

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - OMG, the MAGIC!!! 

Berber dinner and show - very cool and intimate circus / belly dancing show

Anais Mitchell & Samantha Crain @ Chapel - sweet and memorable 

Dear San Francisco - take 2, excellent

Melancholy Play - this show was so fun, and the fight I built is a favorite for all time

Con Brio @ SF Jazz - love love love this iteration 

LoTR/Peripatetic Players - brilliant as always!! 

Aerial Arts Festival - excellent silks act to Enemy/Imagine Dragons 

Mask Monday - unexpected, so creative 

Man of God - great, and the fight work was great to see (not mine) 

Flower Pianos - lovely as always 

Cats @ SJ - delightful and beautifully performed 

Dear San Francisco - take 3, excellent 

Lykke Li @ Warfield - really beautifully staged 

Passengers @ ACT - really cool physical show 

Zach and Siah - great to work on, fight looked awesome, show was well done and provocative 

Harold Ray @ Stork - packed, always fun 

Superorganism @ August - great energy, youthful 

Cat Daddies - I don't usually include movies in this list, but ... this one 😻

MAX @ Filmore - so boy-band-eriffic

Bono @ Orpheum - I wasn't a Bono fan until this night, this show was so special and such a gift

Kid Koala Presents Storyville Mosquito - creative, touching, delightful, unique

Dear San Francisco - take 4, excellent 

Skegss - awesome surf rock band! 

Headlands @ ACT - captivating, enjoyable 

SIX @ Orpheum - beautifully performed

Poor Yella Rednecks - loved 

Car, the Garden - Korean, cute 

Absinthe @ Caesar's Palace - raunchy, so entertaining

Iluminate @ Strat - cute, fun, could use some stronger storytelling 

The Beatles Love @ Mirage - beautiful tribute, magic of cirque 

Sons of Moody - awesome! 

Peter Cat Recording Co - loooooved! moody, dreamy

Chinglish @ SF Playhouse - great, this theatre does consistently great work 

A Soldier's Play - fights looked great, performances were excellent 

Down in the Valley Music Festival - small and sweeet 

Tyler's band (can't remember the name) @ Eli's - I was craving this...Tyler back on drums 

Dear San Francisco - take 5, excellent

Mavericks' music festival - great music and surfing videos 

P!nk: Trustfall Tour - soul filling, incredible

POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive - delightful

Dear San Francisco - take 6, excellent 

Devo! - SO FUN

Ms. Lauryn Hill & Fugees - !!awesome!! 

SFIHHDF - always great 

MJ @ Orpheum - loved, great tribute 

Bees & Honey - this show was really special

Big Data - wow! So thought provoking 

Cirque du Soleil: Kooza - excellent! the clowning, the wheel of death... ! 

39 Steps - really fun and wonderfully performed 

Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord - impactful journey back through covid 

Dear San Francisco - take 7, excellent

Best Available - I loved this show so much! The performances were delightful 

Macbeth - loved working with this group, the fights and performances were great

Magic Flute - the glitter! MZ is always so creative 

Thirty Six - fantastic! out of the box! 

Circus Center Showcase - inspiring! 

2024

I'm so grateful for the people who seem to make it through everything with me, for the opportunity to be creative, for the ability to travel, for a sweet and special man in my life, for Google -- that I'm still there and for how it keeps me on my toes, for the ability to move through some very hard situations and emotions with great support, for how much I've learned and grown, for the opportunity to see some great art, for some great time with family and friends, and that I was able to experience some truly spiritual and magical moments this year. Oh, and for those lovely people that make me smile and laugh for days 😂